Eda Heinla is Associate Professor in the Department of Arts Therapies, in the Institute of Fine Arts at Tallinn University. She holds a university diploma from Tallinn Polytechnical Institute, a university Diploma in Psychology from Tartu State University, an MSc in Educational Sciences on "Pupils' Creativity and its Correlation with IQ, Progress at School and Plans to Continue Studies". In 2002, she was awarded a PhD in Social Sciences.
Her thesis concerned "The Relation of the Child's Creative Thinking to Social and Behavioural Factors". Her career as a university lecturer or researcher spans 25 years. Her main fields of research include: the child's creative thinking, the school environment and creativity, and family sociology.